Assistant Professor
University of Pittsburgh Hillman Cancer Center
Dr. Nacev is a laboratory-based physician scientist with a focus on sarcoma medical oncology and chromatin dysregulation in cancer. He is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh where he directs a research program focused on studying sarcoma-associated alterations in genes that regulate the epigenome.
Dr. Nacev received his MD and PhD degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where he studied under PhD mentor, Prof. Jun O. Liu in the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences. Dr. Nacev’s doctoral thesis focused on drugs with repurposing potential as angiogenesis inhibitors, including itraconazole and cyclosporine. Dr. Nacev’s work explored the mechanisms of this antiangiogenic activity, including work towards target identification.
Following doctoral training, Dr. Nacev joined the Osler Medical Residency where he received internal medicine training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He then went on to Medical Oncology fellowship at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) where he was mentored by Dr. William Tap. Dr. Nacev served as co-Chief Fellow and later joined the clinical faculty at MSK. In parallel, Dr. Nacev completed postdoctoral research training at The Rockefeller University, studying under Prof. C. David Allis. During this time, Dr. Nacev’s research focused on identifying and understanding the mechanisms of a new class of cancer-associated histone mutations known as oncohistones. His work has been published in top journals including Nature and Nature Communications and he has been supported by numerous grants including an NCI K08, a Daymon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award, and a CTOS Sarcoma Basic Science Research Award.
In 2022, Dr. Nacev joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Nacev cares for adult patients with sarcomas, an experience which motivates and inspires his laboratory research program. See https://nacevlab.com for more information.
